Uncurling guide for sewing machines



Y De. 28, 1943. w. KNEISSLE i 2,338,043

UNCURLING GUIDE FOR) SEWING MACHINES Filed July 25, l1942 Patented Dec. 28, 1943 UNITED STATES (Jiri-TICE.

UNCURLING GUIDE FOR SEWING MACHINES Application July 23, 1942, Serial No. 451,999

(Cl. i12-20)' 7 Claims.

This invention relates to fabric: uncurling and guiding devices and more particularly to that type of uncurlingl and guiding devices used on hosiery seaming sewing machines.

The type of hosiery which is now in vogue has the heelv and toe as well as thel top or garter portions reenforced with additional interwoven threads, and thus it occurs. that these sections of the hose are of heavier gage than the remaining sections. In the past, diiiiculty has been experienced in uncurling, guiding and seaming the edge portions of hosiery having a variable gage. Whenever the fabric changes from a .heavy to a thin gage, while passing through an uncurler, the thin gage portion thereof tends to drop out ofl the uncurler as the heavy portion of thefabrie has spread the uncurling wings of the uncurling guide away from the central fabricguiding plate, so that they can not engage the thin fabric sections and hold them snugly against the fabrieeguiding'pl'ate so that they will be held against dropping'belowthe needle path; Among those skilled inv thehosiery seaming art the above described difficulty is referred to as a drop-out.

Whenever the material thus drops below its normal level the needle will either miss the edge of the work or it will penetrate the work at a point so close to theedge that a weak seam will result.

It has been' found that the. above described drop-outs may be obviated if the work is raised slightly just before the relatively thick portion of the stocking terminates and the thin portion is encountered by the uncurler. Thus, by raising the work, thefneedle will be caused to penetrate the work at a substantial distancefrom the edge thereof. Also, it has been found'that one of the most effective ways of raising the. work is to provide an uncurling device which is free to rise in response to anvupward force exerted-by the free or unseamed portions of the work under skillful handling by the operator, thereby permitting the work to be fed' to the feed cups at a higher level than normal.

It is therefore an object of present invention to provide a simple and inexpensive uncurlingl guide having at least a portion thereof shiftable in response to an upward force as exerted by the unseamed portions of the work.

With these and other objects in View, as will hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts described in connection with the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferredembodimentor the invention andin which-- Fig; l is a side elevation of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of lthe present invention as applied to a cup-feed hosiery seaming machine.

Fig. 3 is a disassembled perspective view of the main elements of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the present inv vention as applied to a cup feed hosiery seaming machine with the outer feed-cup removed.

In the embodiment of the invention selected for illustration, my improved uncurling guide is shown as applied to a so-called cup-feed sewing machine having a standard le and an overhanging bracket il from which depends the uncurling guideV and an outer feed cupv iii. operating with the outerv feed-cup i2 is an inner feed-cup I3 for advancing the Work past the stitcl'ung mechanism which includes a needle lil and other devices not shown. For a detailed description of the cup-feed machine shown in the drawing, reference may be had to Patent No. 2,277,970, dated March 31, i942, to T-Eans Hacklander.

Referring to Fig. 2 it will be observed that eneath the overhanging bracket li the machine irame is provided with a horizontal ledge iE-adapted to support for limited lateral adjustnient a right-angle supporting bracket iii to which is secured the uncurling guide. To provide for lateral adjustment of the guide, the horizontal limb of the right-angle bracket it is preferably formed with an elongated slot I1 through'which-passes a clamping screw ltlthread-- ed into the ledge le. The ledge l in its upper surface is formed with a guide-groove twhich is adapted to receive atonguey 2li provided in the horizontal limb of he rights-angle bracket l.

Secured by a clamping screw 2l to the vertical limb of the right-angle bracket ifi which forms an. uncurlingv guide plate, is the uncurling unit. Mounted upon themid-portion of the screw 2i is a4v cylindrical-boss. Ell upon which is freely journaled thehead Zt of the uncurling unit, The threaded .end of the screw 2l is received in the stationary disk 2li which is drawn up and secured against the boss 22 which in turn is tightly forced up against the vertical limb of the bracket l5. The head 23, see Fig. 3, is formed with an apertured ear 25 into which is threaded a fulerum-stud 2&5 upon which are journaled the latches 2l and 'Zdesigned to lock the uncurling guidein operative or inoperative positions. The latches 2l and 28 and the above described pivotal supportfor the uncurling. guide form no partof the present invention, those parts beinfr fully described in Patent No. 2,256,672, dated September 23, 1941, to Hans l-Iacklander.

The above noted uncurling unit comprises a head 23 provided with a vertically disposed cylindrical aperture 2d an-d a depending threaded pin 3Q. Adjustably secured to the head Z3 is a fabricguiding plate pro'vided with an upstanding guide pin and an apertured boss 33 which slidingly receives the depending pin Together the head 23 and the fabric-guiding plate 3l form a two-part central plate. The guide pin S2 is slidingly received within the aperture 29 and the top portion oi the guide pin 32 is engaged by the lower end oi a weak compression spring 3d which is disposed within the aperture 2Q. A set screw threaded into the aperture engages the upper end of the spring 35i to conne it within the aperture and to ai'ord a means whereby the spring pressure may be varied, as by an adjustment of the screw 35. The spring Si: therefore, is effective to force the plate Si downwardly and a thumb-nut 323 is threaded upon the lower end of the pin so as to provide an adjustable stop means for determining the normal operating level or height of the guiding plate 3l.

Secured to and disposed transversely of the plate 3l are two cross-bars Si and which are provided, respectively, with two threaded apertures and two plain apertures :iii adapted to receive the threaded pins lll.

Cooperating with the plate 3l are two pressermembers di?. pivctally secured thereto by means of the pins passing through apertures i3 provided in said members. l'n the modification herein shown the guiding plate 3l terminates at its lower end in a fabric-guiding iin Ms and the presser-members terminate in uncurling plates i5 which are urged toward the guide-iin lill by means of the coil-spring dil. This spring l5 passes through the opening lll provided in the head 2li to bear against the recessed bosses oi the presser-members 12.

Mounted within and transversely of the guidefin [i4 is a gauge pin is which extends from each face thereof to be received within each of the apertures 5d provided in the presser-members ft2. Each uncurling plate l5 is formed with the usual uncurling protuberance 5l located upon the entrance end thereof.

Fig. 4 illustrates a hosiery blank being delivered to the uncurler in the usual manner, and line 53 represents the normal level of the work. However, as hereinabove noted, it sometimes becomes desirable to increase the bite of the needle as by raising the normal feed level of the work. To raise the iced level, when using the present device, the operator need only raise the unseamed portion of the hosiery blank 52 and the upward force of edges of the hosiery blank upon the guidepin 49 will in turn raise the uncurling unit against the action of the spring 3.4i, which latter is weak enough to be overcome by such force. By adjusting the thumb-nu the normal feed level of the work may be varied to suit the various sewing conditions.

and supported by the other part of said central plate, and means connecting the two parts of said central plate together and permitting a limited amount of relative movement of said two parts toward and away from each other.

2. A fabric uncurling and guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a two-part central plate, means pivotally supporting one part of said central plate, a pair of presser-members cooperating with and supported by the other part of said central plate, one of said two parts being provided with an aperture and the other being provided with a pin slidingly received within said aperture, a spring associated with said two parts so as to urge them in opposite directions, and means to limit the relative movement of said two parts toward and away from each other.

3. A fabric uncurling and guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a two-part central plate, means supporting one part of said central plate, a pair of presser-members cooperating with and supported by the other part of said central plate, said two parts being provided with a pair of pins and a pair of apertures arranged to slidingly receive said pins, an element carried by one of said pins for limiting relative movement between said two parts, and a spring disposed within one of said apertures and engaging one of said `pins to spring bias said two parts in opposite directions.

4. A fabric uncurling and guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a head member, means to pivotally secure said head member upon said sewing machine, a fabric-guiding plate, a pair of presser-members cooperating with and supported entirely by said fabric-guiding plate, and means connecting said fabric-guiding plate and said head member and permitting a limited amount of relative movement oi said two par-ts toward and away from each other.

5. A fabric uncurling and guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a head member, means to pivotally secure said head member upon said sewing machine, a fabric-guiding plate, a pair of presser members cooperating with and supported entirely by said fabric-guiding plate, means connecting said fabric-guiding plate and said head member and permitting said fabricguiding plate to be moved toward and from said head member, a spring element associated with said fabric-guiding plate to spring bias the same away from said supporting member, and means carried by said head member for limiting the amount of movement of said fabric-guiding plate relative to said head member.

6. A fabric uncurling and guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a head member, means to pivotally secure said head member upon said sewing machine, a fabric-guiding plate carried entirely by said head member, a pair of presser-members carried by said guiding plate for cooperating with the opposite sides thereof in the uncurling and guiding of a fabrica spring interposed between said head member and said fabricguiding plate for spring biasing the latter away from said head member, a gauging pin carried by said fabric-guiding plate for contacting and gauging the height of a fabric edge, and means connecting said head member and said fabric-guiding plate and permitting relative rectilinear movement between said two elements against the action of said spring whenever the fabric edge is forcefully urged against said gauging pin and toward said head member.

7. A fabric uncurling and guiding device for sewing machines having a pair of horizontally disposed feeding-cups, said device comprising a head member, means to pivotally secure said head member upon said sewing machine at a point above said feeding-cups, a fabric-guiding plate carried entirely by said head member and depending therefrom to be disposed substantially between said head member and the plane containing said feeding-cups, a plurality of uncurling elements carried by said fabric-guiding plate, a

spring element disposed between said head member and said fabric-guiding plate for spring biasing the latter element awayfrom said head member, and means connecting said head member and said fabric-guiding plate so as to permit the latter element to be moved upwardly toward said head member against "the action of said spring.

WALTER KNEISSLER. 

